| Submit your comments on this article |
| Arabia |
| Saudi Arabia smashes 'sinful' horse statues on cleric's orders |
| 2013-06-13 |
| [Al Ahram] Ultra-conservative Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... has smashed sculptures of horses erected on a roundabout in the southwest after the kingdom's top holy man denounced them as sinful, local media reported on Wednesday. The municipality in the town of Abu Arish in Jazan province bordering Yemen demolished the statues on Tuesday, local online news website jazantoday.org reported. The decision came after Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh sent a letter to the governor of Jazan demanding that "the sculptures be removed because they are a great sin and are prohibited under sharia (Islamic law)," said another news webitse, sabq.org. Statues of people and animals are prohibited under Islam as they represent a form of idolatry. However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... the religion does allow artworks depicting plants and landscapes. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #16 I have been awarded 3 of those, swksvolFF. Called Kick-Ass awards here. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2013-06-13 15:34 |
| #15 human life is cheap under Islam Human life is cheap throughout the East. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-06-13 13:37 |
| #14 >We talk about Islam as though it's one entity. While it's not one entity it does have a common risk of turning malignant compared to superior cultures. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2013-06-13 13:13 |
| #13 We talk about Islam as though it's one entity. I'm trying to think about Salafism (and its allied schools of thought like the Deobandis) as opposed to Islamic strains, which are mostly ineffective bullshit. Brelvis and Sufis and such aren't a threat to civilization. Moslem Brotherhoodlums are making Egyptians sick of them already and my guess is that they'll be unable to govern effectively, possibly at all. They're just another strain of authoritarianism. Shiites are a religious phenomenon only to the extent the holy men control Iran. The problem is more political than religious. The "moderate" Moslems provide the sea for the Salafist fish to swim in. They'll cheer for the home team and they don't seem to mind being killed when they're innocent bystanders--human life is cheap under Islam after all--but the money and the driving force is Salafist and it lives in Arabia. |
| Posted by: Fred 2013-06-13 12:09 |
| #12 Probably like this. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2013-06-13 11:53 |
| #11 Were the statues anatomically correct? |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2013-06-13 11:33 |
| #10 Thank you Besoeker!! I've been dusting my wife's " Dalecarlian horse" for years and never knew it had a name. My wife (ex-equestrianne) has many horse sculptures but never knew that this one had a name. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2013-06-13 11:28 |
| #9 The most destructive country in the world re ideology and we do nothing to change them! Is there a more intolerant country in the world re freedom of religion? |
| Posted by: Paul D 2013-06-13 11:03 |
| #8 They'll get my Dalecarlian horse when they pry him from my cold dead hands ! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-06-13 10:58 |
| #7 Bill, rather than your friend preaching 'nice Islam' to infidels, it would be better if he preached 'no Islam' given that a large % of imans do preach Islam with fangs and there is no way of eliminating that preaching |
| Posted by: lord garth 2013-06-13 10:51 |
| #6 the religion does allow artworks depicting plants and landscapes |
| Posted by: Au Auric 2013-06-13 09:51 |
| #5 RJ, to a Muzzie, especially a "Grand Mufti" that's a given. Now, if they had been goats then they'd still be there. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2013-06-13 09:36 |
| #4 Were the Horse statues "Romanticly Involved"? |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2013-06-13 08:36 |
| #3 The Wahabis came to town in Libya during the revolution and blew up a couple of famous shrines and defaced some revered statues in some towns. The locals chased them away but the debate lingers on...what is idolatry? When does a shrine become worshipped itself and stop being a memorial to a famous person? The problem with Islam is that every cleric's pronouncements are treated with equal veracity. There does not seem to be any kind of vetting or ranking system to separate the ignorant fanatic from the learned holy man. I went to dinner the other night and one of the other guests was an Imam. He and I had a dandy discussion of theology and faith. He was very dismissive of the jihadists and their theological leaders as being ill-informed and intellectually diminished. Too bad this guy isn't on TV here preaching some common sense to the masses instead of the guys who seem to get all of the press in Egypt and elsewhere. |
| Posted by: Bill Clinton 2013-06-13 05:54 |
| #2 Smash Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, he's "Sinful". |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2013-06-13 01:55 |
| #1 Like the Buddah statues a few years back. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2013-06-13 01:51 |